“Jagmeet Singh, long a star among the NDP ranks of the Ontario legislature, embarks later today on a bid to replace Tom Mulcair as the party’s leader in Ottawa — a quest that could make him the first non-Caucasian to helm a major federal party.

“Singh, who currently serves as the provincial party’s deputy leader, is expected to launch his campaign tonight alongside supporters at an event at Bombay Palace in Brampton, Ont. — the same place he celebrated his 2011 provincial win.”

+1: A Chat with Jagmeet Singh, the Incredibly Well-Dressed Rising Star in Canadian Politics – GQ

3. Syria using crematorium to hide executions, U.S. State Department says

“The Syrian government has constructed and is using a crematorium inside its notorious Sednaya military prison outside Damascus to clandestinely dispose of thousands of prisoners it continues to execute inside the facility, according to the State Department.

“At least 50 prisoners a day are executed in the prison, some in mass hangings, said Stuart Jones, the acting assistant secretary of state for the Middle East. A recent Amnesty International report called Sednaya a ‘human slaughterhouse’ and said that thousands of Syrians have been abducted, detained and ‘exterminated’ there.”

4. Alarmed by Trump, Republican Senators begin to pull away

“Senate Republicans, increasingly unnerved by President Trump’s volatility and unpopularity, are starting to show signs of breaking away from him as they try to forge a more traditional Republican agenda and protect their political fortunes.”